


Celestial Beauty

by sugarandspace



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Art Student Clary Fray, Body Paint, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Medical Student Isabelle Lightwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 04:47:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20651435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarandspace/pseuds/sugarandspace
Summary: Clary doesn't really know how to ask for help with her art project, but as she finally explains to her girlfriend what she needs her to do, it doesn't take long for Isabelle to agree.





	Celestial Beauty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [intezaarlily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/intezaarlily/gifts).

> I want to gift this fic to lovely Lily because without her this would probably have stayed as a WIP for a lot longer. Thank you for the encouragement! 💙
> 
> Written for [dailyclizzysource's](https://dailyclizzysource.tumblr.com/%22%22) Clizzy Week. "Painting" was the theme for day one so I'm a bit late, but better late than never, right?

“Izzy?”

“Yeah?” Isabelle asks. She lifts her eyes from the book she had been reading on the couch as Clary emerges from their bedroom with her painting clothes on. In Isabelle’s honest opinion Clary looks always beautiful, but she looks even more gorgeous with traces of paint on her clothes and skin. She’s in her element then.

“Can I ask for a favor?” Clary looks hesitant as she leans against the doorframe and wrings her hands together.

“Of course,” Isabelle replies. She lays the book down on the small coffee table and gives her girlfriend her full attention. What could Clary be asking that’s making her so nervous? 

“I told you about my project, right?”

“Yeah, you did,” Isabelle confirms. Clary is on her last year in the Brooklyn Academy of Art and her homework was often very different from Isabelle’s medical studies. “But how can I help? You need a model?”

“Kind of,” Clary says but she doesn’t elaborate.

“What is it?” Isabelle asks. She stands up and walks to stand in front of her girlfriend. She takes Clary’s hand in hers to stop the fidgeting. “You don’t need to be nervous. Unless we’re talking about nude modeling I’m pretty much on board with everything.”

She laughs at her own joke but as Clary doesn’t, it raises a question.

“Are you talking about nude modeling?!” Isabelle asks, her tone shocked. She’s confident with her body but that seems like too much for her. 

“You don’t need to be fully naked,” Clary explains quickly. “And no one will actually see anything.”

Isabelle looks at her with a confused expression and Clary sighs deeply.

“I’m supposed to make a series of paintings on different types of surfaces,” Clary explains and Isabelle remembers her explaining it a couple of days prior. “I just finished the traditional painting and I was thinking that I’d love to use body painting as the technique for the second one.”

“You want to paint on me?” Isabelle asks, making sure she understood it right. 

“On your back, yeah,” Clary confirms. “I understand if you don’t want to, or if you’re busy with studying or -”

“Clary,” Isabelle cuts the nervous rambling. Clary shuts up and looks at Izzy with so much uncertainty. Isabelle wants to wipe it all away so she kisses her softly before continuing, “I’ll do it.”

“Really?” Clary asks and she looks both relieved and happy.

“Really,” Isabelle confirms and smiles at her girlfriend. “Do you want to do it now?”

“Whatever works for you,” Clary says diplomatically. “Now is fine.”

“Great!” Isabelle says. “What do you want me to do?”

“Give me a second to get everything ready and we can start,” Clary says. The nervousness is gone and she’s smiling again. Isabelle’s heart feels warm as she knows that it’s because of her. “Could you put your hair up? It can’t cover your back.”

“Yeah, sure,” Isabelle replies and goes to the bathroom of their small apartment while Clary retreats to the bedroom. Once her hair is up on a messy bun and she’s sure there are no stray strands hanging down her back, she goes to the bedroom.

There’s an easel on the corner of it with a beautiful painting on it. It looks like a small hill, but the focus is on the array of blues and purples on the sky that’s filled with tiny stars. Their bed is covered by an old sheet that has a rip on the corner, and Izzy assumes that the sheet is there to protect their bed from the accidental droplets of paint. The paints are on the nightstand next to an array of brushes, and Clary is standing next to the bed.

“Everything is ready,” she says with a smile.

“So I just lay down?” Isabelle asks and gestures to the bed.

“Yeah,” Clary says. “On your stomach.”

Isabelle reaches to the bottom of her shirt and pulls it off before climbing on the bed, but before she can lay down Clary clears her throat.

“Um,” she starts. “The bra too, if you don’t mind.”

Isabelle smirks and reaches behind herself to unclasp her bra and take it off, setting it on the floor as she lays down on the bed.

“I’m all yours,” she says as she gets comfortable. She lays her head on the pillow and slides her hands underneath it. “Is this okay?”

“This is perfect,” Clary breathes out and sits down on the side of the bed. Isabelle watches as she takes the pallet with different shades of paint on it and pokes her finger on the blob of dark blue paint.

“This is going to feel a bit cold,” she warns before she touches the skin at Isabelle’s shoulder blade with the paint-covered finger. Clary was right, it does feel cold, and Isabelle shivers. But the coldness passes quickly as the warmth of Clary’s finger replaces it. 

“You are going to paint using your fingers?” Izzy asks.

“At the beginning, yeah,” Clary says. “I’ll use the brushes to add detail later.”

Isabelle nods and doesn’t speak more. She lets Clary focus on her work and listens to the playlist Clary has playing from her phone that sits next to the paints on the nightstand. Isabelle focuses on the feeling of Clary’s fingers traveling all around her back.

“Mmm, I could fall asleep,” Isabelle says after a while. She has no idea how much time has passed, it could be twenty minutes or it could be an hour. “This is so relaxing.”

“Go ahead,” Clary laughs. “Just try not to roll over in your sleep. It would ruin everything I’ve painted so far.”

Despite her words, Isabelle doesn’t let the sleep take her over. She tries to figure out how the painting on her back is going to look like, but she has no idea. Knowing Clary and her skillset, the only thing Isabelle can be sure about is the fact that the painting will no doubt be gorgeous. 

Like she said, Clary switches to the brush at some point, painting long lines and curves from Isabelle’s shoulders down to where her jeans start. Isabelle is pretty sure that there’s not an inch of skin without paint left on her back. At some point Clary moves to straddle Isabelle’s thighs, leaning closer to be able to see the painting better.

Isabelle shivers for the hundredth time as Clary blows warm air to it to help the paint dry faster.

The weight of her girlfriend on her thighs is pressing Isabelle firmer to the bed, and as the fingers are back on her back her thoughts drift to other activities this bed has seen where either of them has been pushed down to it. 

She shakes those thoughts, though, and focuses on staying still. 

“I’m almost finished,” Clary says from above her. She’s painting something that feels like small dots now, the touches of the brush light on Isabelle’s skin. 

“Okay.”

It takes a few more minutes until Clary declares that the painting is finished. She’s blowing more air to Isabelle’s back now, and it makes the hairs at the back of her neck stand up and goosebumps erupt on her skin.

“I’m going to take a picture here and another one when you’re standing, okay?” Clary asks and her weight shifts as she leans to the nightstand where her camera is. She kneels with her knees on both sides of Isabelle’s thighs and raises herself up enough to take a few pictures.

Isabelle can’t wait to see what it looks like.

Clary climbs off of her and asks her to stand up as she takes a few more pictures of the painting.

“Okay I’m finished,” she declares as puts the camera away. Isabelle is already walking to the mirror in the corner of the room, turning her back to it to admire the painting.

It fits the theme of the painting on the easel next to her, but this one is completely focusing on the night sky. It looks like a galaxy - the colors vibrant but blending naturally and the tiny gold dots giving it a lot of light. 

“It looks amazing,” Isabelle says on an exhale. “Clary you are so talented.”

Clary walks up to her so that she’s standing in front of Isabelle, her eyes on the mirror and the painting. “You think so?”

Isabelle turns to look at Clary before she looks back at the painting, unable to look away for too long. “Of course!”

“Thank you,” Clary replies.

Isabelle can see her in the mirror and she doesn’t miss the blush and the small smile the compliment causes. Her girlfriend is adorable and Isabelle loves it when she can make her blush.

They are both looking a the painting and Isabelle reaches to brush her fingers along the edge of it, her touch light even though the paint has dried a long time ago. 

“How am I supposed to be able to wash this off?” She asks, turning to look at Clary properly, not just through a mirror. “It feels almost offensive.”

“I promise I won’t have any hard feelings,” Clary replies with a smile. “But if you can’t handle the idea of washing it away I could always help you.”

“Is that so?” Isabelle asks, raising her eyebrow.

“Mhm,” Clary agrees, wrapping her arms around Isabelle and pulling her close, her hands splayed wide over the painting. Clary feels warm against Isabelle’s shirtless body. “I made that, I have no problem washing it away. You don’t need a painting on your body, you’re beautiful as yourself.”

It’s not easy to make Isabelle Lightwood blush, but the honest compliments her girlfriend showers her with are a sure way to get the colour to rise on her cheeks. She pecks Clary’s nose before leaning in to kiss her properly, while her hands wander under Clary’s shirt, pushing the fabric up as they go.

“If we are going to shower,” she says between kisses. “You are wearing too many clothes.”

**Author's Note:**

> Only my second Clizzy fic! I hope it was enjoyable! 
> 
> You can also find me from [tumblr](https://sugarandspace.tumblr.com) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/sugarandspace_)!


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